Flexible container bags, such as those known as “flexible intermediate bulk containers”, “bulk bags” or “big bags”, are used to store and transport bulk materials which can be in any form such as powder, flakes or grains. The flexible container bags typically have a body made of a flexible fabric, such as a woven material, an access portion on a top face for filling the flexible container bag with the bulk material, a discharge portion on a bottom face for emptying the bulk material from the flexible container bag, and lifting straps allowing the lifting of the flexible container bags. Different forms of lifting strap exist, such as 1, 2 or 4 loops, and those known as stevedore straps. The access portion can comprise a filling spout, a skirt, a duffel top or an open top. The discharge portion can comprise a discharge spout or a flat bottom.
Sizes and capacities of flexible container bags can vary. A typical flexible container has a base surface area of about 100×100 cm and a height of about 100-200 cm. Such a bag once filled will weigh about one tonne (1000 kg) or more. Other sizes of bags can weigh between about 500 kg and about 2000 kg.
In a typical filling cycle, flexible container bags are transported empty and folded to a filling site, unfolded manually by operator(s), the filling spout of the flexible container bag engaged manually by operator(s) with a dispensing tube of a hopper containing the bulk material, and the flexible container bag filled with the bulk material through the filling spout using, for example, a gravity feed. Although the filling part of the flexible container bag can be automated to some extent, the unfolding of the folded flexible container bags and their engagement with the hopper is a manual step in existing systems and is therefore a rate delimiting step in the entire filling cycle. Time loss in the filling cycle can mean less flexible container bags filled within a given time. Time savings during the filling cycle can translate to cost savings.
Therefore, there is a need for flexible container bags which overcome or reduce at least some of the above-described problems.